


The Cirque

by sirenofodysseus



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, F/M, M/M, Trope Bingo 2021, no actual plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29095086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirenofodysseus/pseuds/sirenofodysseus
Summary: Come one, come all to the circus!(Or really just an excuse for me to write the circus!au that nobody ever asked for.)
Relationships: Craig O'Laughlin/Luther Wainwright, Implied Grace Van Pelt/Wayne Rigsby, Lorelei Martins/Patrick Jane, Patrick Jane/Teresa Lisbon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	The Cirque

**Author's Note:**

> I had SO much fun writing this! I’m always game for a good writing time though!
> 
> Written to fulfill my Trope Bingo prompt of AU-Circus.

In troves, the audience arrives.

Filling the wooden stands for a one-night show, full of wonder, magic, and mayhem. The ringleader, Thomas McAllister, dressed in royal reds and blues, waits until the lights dim before he steps into the arena. He sweeps his arm out, cane in hand, before he introduces the Cirque Elysium.

The audience, as they always do, aw and ooh in amazement as Teresa Lisbon and Lorelei Martins ascend from the rafters. Dressed in the same dazzling shades of reds and blues, the duo twirl in mid-air before doing several mid-air flips. Gravity doesn’t bother them as they defy it, making sure to dance around each other, even as they’re introduced to the bewildered audience. The crowd cheers as they sway to the music, never missing the beat as if they’ve practiced this a time or two.

Which they most certainly have.

From awnings, little girls yearn to be like his trapeze artists. Eyes wide, mouths open as later, they’ll tell their parents they want to do that too!

But Thomas knows His girls are one-of-a-kind, as are all his performers. He watches them twirl and fly to each other before they simultaneously and gracefully ascend to the ground before Kimball Cho takes to the tightrope. Balancing precariously on the thin wire, hung above the dazzled audience, Cho walks across the wire as though he’s unfearful of plummeting to his death below.

Applause fills the arena before Teresa, Cho and Lorelei bow to the crowd after Cho joins them all on the ground again. He watches their wide smiles, and he knows, they’ll want to try something more dangerous next time. He’s already told them _no rings of fire or vats filled with crocodiles_ , so what they’ll come up with next…he’s not entirely too sure. 

Together, they leave the arena, just as the trio of painted clowns arrive. Crammed into their little clown car, each one in a red wig and a polka-dotted outfit pops out.

“Here to cause mayhem?” Thomas asks them, and in response, he’s squirted in the face with water, which makes the crowd roar with laughter. Wiping the water from his face, he rolls his eyes and introduces the clowns as Carter, Hardy, Rigsby and Ron. Running around the arena, the clowns decide to chase one another around; tripping over their own large feet, as each make funny faces toward the audience. Carrying a well-worn suitcase, Rigsby pulls out a fish and hits Carter over the head.

While the audience laughs, Ron and Hardy pull out party balloons. Blowing them up hilariously, the band plays behind them as they take labored breaths, failing ultimately to inflate their balloon which only made the audience laugh harder.

“You silly clowns,” Thomas chides over the band, as Rigsby starts to control Carter by placing his hand above him as though there were invisible strings.

Thomas pretends, after a while, to cut the strings to move the clowns along which has the audience clapping and hollering in excitement. Next, he introduces his contortionist (Rebecca) and his snake charmer (Madeleine) before he brings out Grace out on her unicycle. His youngest member of Cirque Elysium, who’s in love with one of the clowns. Cycling around the arena, dressed in bright pink glitter, Grace has every eye on her whilst the snake charmer charms and the contortionist contortions inside a trunk. He used to let the snake charmer out with the magician, but the magician was such a flirt that the audience always usually ended with a double entendre.

“And next,” he warns the audience, after the three acts depart the arena. “We have a thrilling sight. Something so chilling, you’ll never believe your eyes. Introducing, for the first time, LaRoche the Magnificent and his lion.”

The crowd gives an aw in amazement as J.J. LaRoche steps into the arena. Tucked safety away, the lion, sits ready for his part in the grand show. Using raw meat, LaRoche guides the lion through the hoops, before it roars causing the audience to shriek in delight. Thomas watches as LaRoche places his head in the lion’s open mouth, only to jump right back before the lion snapped its mouth shut.

The crowd goes wild, while LaRoche takes a bow and leads his animal out of the arena. In the spotlight once more, Thomas introduces one of his oldest (and yet, still popular) acts: Patrick Jane, the magician.

Dressed in a tuxedo and black top hat, Patrick Jane the Wonder looks ready to cause trouble and quickly, Thomas leaves the arena. He learned early on that he and Mister Jane did not get along at all, regardless of the fact he had made him!

From next to him, behind the curtain, Lorelei watches as though she’s never seen his act before. Pulling rabbits out of hats, psychically deducing the audience, and his handful of other tricks that usually left the audience in awe.

“He’s good,” Lorelei comments, forcing Thomas to roll his eyes. He’s aware that both of his trapeze artists have a thing for Mister Jane. They’ll never say it aloud, but he’s seen the glances and the sly touches between the trio—sometimes together, sometimes apart.

Mister Jane might be gifted with psychic abilities, but it doesn’t take a psychic to see the feelings even though he wishes they wouldn’t. Relationships are already messy enough, but show ones? Even more so.

Stepping back through the curtain as Mister Jane takes his bow, listening to the roar of the audience, Thomas introduces the next act with vigor.

“Introducing, Craig the Wonderful and his partner, Luther the Fearless.”

As Mister Jane leaves the arena, two brunettes take front and center. Craig “the Wonderful” O’Laughlin and Luther “the Fearless” Wainwright seem as if a stiff breeze would do them in, but in reality, the two are one of the strongest acts he has. Craig helps Luther strap into a moving target, several inches off the ground, before he begins to throw knives at his partner. The crowd ooh and aw at the death-defying stunt, because as the ringleader tells them, the knives are extremely sharp and extremely real. One wrong move and Luther’s dead.

It’s what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, holding their breaths as they watch the duo perform.

Thomas smiles to himself.

He’s got the best job on the planet.


End file.
